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ANNUAL MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY AT BENAROYA HALL’S GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE ON MAY 29, AT 10 A.M.

Press Release:

Thursday, 25 May, 2017

Names of Washington State Service Members Added to Wall of Remembrance

“Whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a new hope, or for nothing, we cannot say.... We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.... We were young. We have died. Remember us.” – Archibald MacLeish, American Poet and Librarian of Congress

Seattle, WA – The Garden of Remembrance, located at Benaroya Hall on the corner of Second Avenue and University Street in downtown Seattle, will be the site of a brief Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 29, at 10 a.m. to honor the Washington State citizens who fell in service to their country since last Memorial Day. The names of Flando E. Jackson, David A. Bauders and Jeffrey D. Cooper have been engraved on the granite walls of the Garden of Remembrance in advance of the ceremony.

Jackson, 45, worked for the Washington State Department of Corrections, and was a member of the Washington National Guard. He passed on August 4, 2016 in a non-combat incident at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

Bauders, 25, worked for the Washington State Patrol and was in the Washington National Guard, and lost his life in May 2016 in a non-combat incident at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq.

A Washington state native, Cooper was a graduate of Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek and passed at age 25 on September 10, 2016 of a non-combat injury in Kuwait.

The observance will include a presentation of wreaths, reading of the names and a performance by the Seattle Youth Symphony following the tolling of a bell. The ceremony is sponsored by the Garden of Remembrance Advisory Board, the Northwest Chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Gold Star Mothers of Washington and Benaroya Hall.

The Garden of Remembrance is an official state memorial to more than 8,000 Washington State citizens who have given their lives in the service of our country since 1941, including World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the post-Vietnam conflicts. Every year on Memorial Day, families are invited to gather at the Garden to honor their fallen loved ones. Some bring photos and other mementos to leave at the wall while others create “rubbings” of the names with pencil and paper.

The Garden of Remembrance is a half-acre, L-shaped space designed by late world-renowned landscape architect Robert Murase, and lies along the south and west sides of Benaroya Hall. Memorial walls of granite, lined by slender reflecting pools, are oriented so that the names face the western sun. In addition to the walls, excerpts from poems honor veterans who died in our nation’s wars; lines from letters remind us of the personal connections with home that each name represents. The reflecting pools honor those missing in action, and a fountain honors those who died in peacetime and other national service. The golden oak tree that centers the Garden symbolizes remembrance of the cycle of life and honors the fallen and their families. The Garden was dedicated on July 4, 1998.

Benaroya Hall, home of Seattle Symphony, is located at 200 University Street in downtown Seattle on a city block between Second and Third avenues and Union and University streets. The Garden of Remembrance is easily accessible by public transportation. A 430-space parking garage, accessible from Second Avenue, is housed within Benaroya Hall.